Don't make a mess of your files when using a records management provider

8/19/2010

My wife and family were out of town and I was tasked with re-grouting the shower walls in our dream home. (Yes, even dream homes leak!) I am a relatively handy guy and didn’t think it was a big deal. Could I scrape out the old grout? Sure. Could I re-grout the walls? Sure. Bob Villa has taught me well. I was very prepared, or so I thought. By the end of the day I was covered in grout from head to toe and the shower floor had more grout than the walls; I realized I didn’t have training for such a task.

As records management professionals, often the people that do some of the work don’t have the training for it. We understand the policies, classifications, procedures and reasons for doing certain things a certain way because that is our primary function. When someone can’t find a file they are looking for, it is often because they miscategorized it to begin with. Then the blame is on our shoulders because we can’t find what they are looking for. What’s the solution? Often it’s training. So train them and you won’t have a mess to clean up, like my shower.

Got another records management analogy? Feel free to share it with us by commenting on this blog.

Randall Sanders
Product Manager
Archive Systems, Inc.Changing the way the world manages documents